The Pride

Tired of humanity destroying the Earth, the Gibborim called together six couples to act as their servants. In exchange for an annual sacrifice of a pure, unwilling human soul, the Gibborim would grant wealth, power, and influence to the group for twenty-five years with a chance of gaining eternal life. The couples agreed and formed the Pride. For nearly twenty-five years, the Gibborim provided the Pride with wealth and powers, allowing them to rule the criminal underworld of Los Angeles.[5]Doctor Strange stated that the Gibborim's prophecy and promises were lies and that the Gibborim served no cause but their own greed.[16]

Every year, The Pride gathered at the Wilder residence, using the excuse of an "annual charity fundraiser", while in reality, they would perform the "Rite of Blood", a ritual sacrifice of an innocent young female victim; the spirit of the victim would then be fed to the Gibborim in the "Rite of Thunder". The Gibborim's power faded over time, and they came to dwell in a "realm of slumber", the very same dimension they fled to after the Pride fell until they moved underwater to mystically summon the six couples who would comprise the core foundation of their covert group.[5]

After Janet Stein became pregnant during their third year as the Pride, the six couples agreed to end its struggle against one another. Each couple would instead ensure their child would receive one of the six places in the coming paradise, so The Pride's legacy could go on. Unbeknownst to the rest of The Pride, the alien Deans and the mutant Hayes had made a deal; to murder the rest of The Pride and take the six tickets in paradise for themselves and their daughters, Karolina Dean and Molly Hayes. After seventeen years in, the Rite of Thunder was interrupted by the children of the Pride. In response, the Gibborim killed all the members of the Pride in the final explosion.[9]

House of M

During the House of M reality warp by the Chthon-powered Scarlet Witch restructured Earth-616 in accordance to the heart's desires of its inhabitants. The Pride ruled over not merely Los Angeles, but all of southern California.[17] The Gibborim was thus likely revived from the void in this reality.

Limbo and Hell

Without the power of the human souls the Pride provided, the Gibborim were banished to Limbo. A time-displaced Geoffrey Wilder made contact with them upon being placed in the present day. They asked him to bring them a sacrificial soul in order for them to raise Alex and Catherine Wilder from the dead.[6] Later, Chase Stein contacted them, seeking to strike a deal to raise Gertrude Yorkes from the dead in exchange for an innocent soul. Chase attempted to offer himself but ultimately failed, since the soul had to be unwilling. Without a soul to nourish them, the Gibborim ended up fading to a dimension of nothingness, merely white space which was seemingly Hell according to Alex, who had been sent there after death.[7]

In possession of the Bloodstones and the Amulet, and intending to crush the demons of Limbo, Project Purgatory leader General Charles J. Ulysses had the demons to gather around his base as they wished to retrieve those weapons, for them to be in one place as he crushed them. He had Toko to assemble the Amulet, summoning the Elder Gods[18] (possibly including the Gibborim), but they made their way to Earth through Portal Epsilon instead.[18]

The Gibborim are an extremely long-lived alien species made of light, similar to Majesdanians; however, unlike Majesdanians, the Gibborim possess and take over human hosts in order to survive in Earth's environment.[19]

Resurrection: The Gibborim claim to be capable of resurrecting mortals, even after they passed into the Great Beyond,[6][21] whereas death gods and even some cosmic beings capable of obliterating entire worlds cannot, though they apparently require an innocent soul to do so. The Gibborim are capable of restructuring the entire world and eliminating the entire human race.[5]

Weaknesses

The Gibborims' power is completely reliant upon the sacrifice of pure, unwilling human souls.[5][9][1]

Miscellaneous

Notes

It is implied by Alex that the Gibborim are actually "children" of something higher and formed the Pride by their command;[citation needed] another possible interpretation of this is that though the higher beings they serve mean no genuine malice or harm, the Gibborim believed such actions would earn them their favor and tried to seize the planet over the humans in the names of their masters.[citation needed] The latest edition of the Official Marvel Handbook, after confirming the Gibborim are indeed "mystical" in nature, says it is unrevealed for how long the Gibborim has ruled the Earth before the dawn of humanity (and how this could be so, due to the presence of the Elder Gods, Celestials, alien visitors, and other beings of any purpose and diversity), and also says it is unclear if there were ever more than three of them.[citation needed]

In X-Infernus #4, the central Gibborim clearly appeared among the Elder Gods.

In New Mutants Vol 3 #20 and #21, a giant with similar horns, clothing and jewelry appeared among the Elder Gods, but without the characteristic six fingers (or at least not seen) or nose. It is unclear if this being was supposed to the Gibborim (under a new design), or another being all-together.

It is unknown if the other two known Gibborim were also part of the Elder Gods of Limbo.

The Gibborim's personal nature and origins are largely unknown, though, due to Alex's statements to them in the blank-white void-like "Hell", it is hinted they are religious, if extremely misguided, servants of their Holy Father.[1]

Elsa Bloodstone mentioning that she hunted "Gibborim Marauders" in her youth

Elsa Bloodstone that when she was young, she slayed "Gibborim Marauders".[22] No further explanation on the exact nature of those creatures, whether they are Gibborim themselves, or merely their servants was given.

Trivia

According to Nico Minoru, "Gibborim" is the Hebrew word for "mighty men" or "heroes".[5]